This invention relates generally to interactive electronic shopping systems and methods and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to such systems and methods utilizing the Internet so that an individual shopper can access shopping information from his or her home or office, for example.
Commercial use of the Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, presently allows some degree of investigation and ordering of products offered for sale. The convenience that this can offer to a shopper would be enhanced with regard to at least some types of shopping if the shopper could see a virtual reproduction of an actual store and the products offered there as they are actually displayed at the store. Convenience would also be enhanced if the shopper could examine the displayed products in a manner similar to how one would at the actual store.
Further convenience would be added by creating one or more lists of what the shopper may need to buy based upon historical or predetermined ordering patterns or upon actual selections at the time the shopper is moving through the virtual store shown on the shopper""s display.
Thus, there is the need for a video-based digitally implemented interactive electronic shopping system which allows a customer to view the contents of a particular shopping facility in a format that provides the feeling of shopping for the items in that particular facility. Use of this should be available at the customer""s home or business through a convenient device, such as a personal computer, television or other consumer type electronic visual display device.
The present invention provides a novel and improved interactive electronic shopping system and method that satisfy the aforementioned needs for making shopping more convenient to the shopper. Using the present invention, a shopper can browse through a virtual duplicate of an actual store in a manner similar to being in the actual store itself. The shopper can examine individual products, and select or not select ones for purchase. Through the selection process, one or more types of lists can be created (e.g., alphabetical or by location in the store). Historical lists based on past ordering and predetermined buying frequency can also be provided. Special displays or information can also be provided to alert the shopper to specials on particular products. Products can be located through a directory that correlates all the products with their respective locations in the store. Changes at the actual store can be implemented in the virtual store.
This invention benefits the marketer of the products because, for example, it allows for customer loyalty to be developed since the exact depiction of the marketer""s store actually enables the customer to become very familiar with the store and its particular products and to stay abreast of changes. It also enables a customer to reduce the actual shopping time and to ease or enhance the shopping experience.
An interactive electronic shopping system of the present invention comprises: means for converting images of a shopping facility into encoded digital signals representing the images as would be seen by a shopper at a physical embodiment of the shopping facility; means for storing the encoded digital signals in a computer data base; means for displaying a video representation of the shopping facility in response to the stored encoded digital signals; and control means for the shopper to control the means for displaying such that the means for displaying causes the displayed video image to change at the shopper""s command to correspond to what the shopper would see were the shopper to move through a physical embodiment of the shopping facility.
In a particular implementation, the interactive electronic shopping system comprises: a digital camera to digitize a shopping facility into digital signals representing images of the shopping facility; a central computer data base to store the digital signals; a communication link connected to the central computer data base; a local computer connected to the communication link; and a control interface connected to the local computer to enable a shopper to control the local computer such that the local computer obtains data from the central computer data base in response to the digital signals stored therein and displays video images of the shopping facility in response to the obtained data.
The present invention also provides a method of creating a virtual shopping facility for interactive shopping by computer. This method comprises: selecting a physically embodied shopping facility in which a shopper can purchase from among a plurality of products; converting images of at least a portion of the shopping facility and the plurality of products into encoded digital signals; storing the encoded digital signals in a computer storage medium; and providing access to the stored encoded digital signals such that portions of the stored encoded digital signals are selectable and transmissible to a computer for displaying, on a monitor of the computer, virtual movement within a visual representation of the shopping facility and for permitting examination of visual representations of selected products in response to selected stored encoded digital signals.
The present invention also provides a computer-implemented method of simulating movement of a shopper through a shopping facility to enable an individual to observe, inspect and select a product in the shopping facility through operation of a computer. The method comprises: selecting a shopping facility having a known configuration of products displayed at the selected shopping facility such that a shopper can move among the displayed products to observe, inspect and select from among the displayed products; simulating the configuration of displayed products in a computer, including translating the known configuration of displayed products into encoded configuration-defining electrical signals in memory of a first computer and using the electrical signals to create in a second computer video representations of the configuration of displayed products; indicating to at least the second computer a first position of a shopper in the shopping facility and displaying through a monitor of the second computer the video representation of the configuration of displayed products at the first position; and indicating to at least the second computer a continuous change from the first position to a second position and displaying through the monitor of the second computer a changing video representation of the configuration of displayed products corresponding to a moving scene the shopper would see in moving from the first position to the second position in the shopping facility.
The present invention still further provides a computer-implemented method of making a shopping list for purchasing products from a shopping facility, comprising performing each of the following steps using a computer: accessing a predetermined data base of encoded electrical signals representing a shopping facility and products available for purchase from the shopping facility; retrieving from the data base a sequence of the encoded electrical signals and displaying moving images of at least a portion of the shopping facility and products to simulate movement through the portion of the shopping facility in response to the retrieved sequence of encoded electrical signals; and selecting displayed products and making a list of the selected displayed products.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved interactive electronic shopping system and method. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the preferred embodiments is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.